


a token as old as stars

by ruinsoflemuria



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Amaurotine Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Astrologian WoL, Eternal Bonding, F/M, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Fluff and Angst, Persephone has some sass and they're smitten with each other, just a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 18:46:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20412559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruinsoflemuria/pseuds/ruinsoflemuria
Summary: he was never fond of rings, so she made him something else.





	a token as old as stars

**Author's Note:**

> preconvocation!wol before Zodiark came and pulled an "im about to ruin this people's whole existence"

Persephone already knows he's close before she even hears the doors to her study slide open with a quiet hum, a smile forming upon her lips. 

"_Emet-Selch_," she playfully calls, turning around from her messy desk to find his curious golden gaze fixed on her. Despite the rain outside, his Convocation robes are perfectly dry. "What a surprise!"

His eyes squint behind his red mask, which he promptly pulls off along with his hood. "Really now, _ Deneb_, even though it was you who summoned me here?" He tries to sound irritated, drawling her title for dramatic effect, but fails miserably. One poke to his aether tells her he's always happy to see her. Always.

The way his aether reacted to hers never failed to make her feel so loved and wanted, even if they were really close friends dancing upon a delicate line that drew poor Hythlodaeus up the wall.

Persephone smiles at the thought that today might change everything between them, if her little plan goes well, that is. "No titles in my study, _ Hades dear_," she watches with delight how his dark lips part when she uses his name. "I was merely teasing you. There's a good reason I asked our friend to deliver my invitation."

"And doing so he saved me from one of Lahabrea's lengthy ramblings about the Convocation needing to fill the missing seat. Again."

"Daeus did tell me you almost ran away with him the moment you saw the opening."

Hades squints once more at her, but Persephone's cheeky grin remains in place, unwavering. "Well, he wasn't _ entirely _ wrong."

A breathy laugh escapes her at the image forming in her head of Hades grabbing poor Hythlodaeus and making a run for it. "Oh, I wish I'd been there to see it."

_ Something _ flashes through the Architect's eyes, so brief she ends up thinking she imagined it. "You can always come visit me at the Convocation, Persephone. I'm sure Igeyohrm will love hoarding you for hours so you can show her your little planetarium again."

The idea makes Persephone smile, genuinely. "You're just jealous I'm the only one she likes, inside and outside of your Convocation." Hades clicks his tongue at that, but Persephone shrugs her shoulders playfully at him. If there was someone in all Amaurot able to tease the ever-serious Emet-Selch, that would be her and Hythlodaeus, and she'd never get tired of it as long as he'd allow it.

Her eyes soften when she looks at him, impossibly blue like the sky itself. It fits her title, being the Concept creator of the Planetarium for Amaurot and creator of "little shining stars". People would come to her small workshop with ideas to give to their loved ones, from small silly gifts to giant, brilliant decorations like a whole chandelure for the Hall of Rhetoric, and she'd gladly make them a reality for them. Rings, necklaces, tiaras for the children to play with… all value given being sentimental. Everything she gave away was for the people to carry a little star with them, and to make Amaurot shine with her little creations, mimicking the stars… it filled her to the brim with joy.

Loving the stars so much, Persephone thinks, it's no wonder her aether drew her close to Hades in the first place.

His golden eyes shine like two stars on their own, his aether being as dark as the night sky, and a white lock lost in his sea of dark hair...

"Persephone?"

She jumps on her seat, finding Hades leaning over her with a smirk on his face. _ Oh. _

"Daydreaming again?"

A pout to mask the blush that threatens to bloom on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was just thinking."

"You were staring at me without saying anything for a whole minute, _ Persephone dear_," he shoots back at her with the same tone she'd said his name before, _ the bastard_. "See something you like?"

_ Oh, here we go. The teasing little– _

Persephone swallows a groan, unable to retort. It was now or never, and she needs her whole strength to be as bold as possible without wanting to turn into a puddle of _ anything _ and run for the hills. _ Stars help me_.

"Yes, actually," her own unwavering voice surprises her, but almost fades into laughter when she sees Hades' face morph into shock. Patting his shoulder, she stands up. "Wait here. Like I told you before, there's a reason I called you this late, after all."

Hades is left _gawking_ while Persephone goes to fetch what she's been working on for weeks, trying to hold back the urge to laugh.

When she returns, carrying the small black wooden box with golden engravings, Hades is sitting at her desk, eyeing a small chandelure model that fit in the palm of his gloved hand. She leans over his shoulder, her hair brushing his cheek as she feels him stiffen beneath her, and places the box in front of him without saying a word.

She's not sure her voice will stay steady enough for this. Even her heart is incredibly loud, louder than the rain outside, thumping madly in the silence of her little study. It's impossible that he can't sense her aether flowing like a torrent within her, and she doesn't try to hide it either.

He turns around to face her, his face impossibly close. He smells of fruits, intoxicating and sweet.

She steps away, taking a deep breath, and gestures towards the box.

Hades looks at the box, then back at her.

"Concept hours are closed," he deadpans, and Persephone can't help it: she bursts out laughing.

"You fool!" she shoves his arm, the slight curl of his lips betraying him. _ You noticed I was nervous, didn't you? That's why you're making me laugh. You always do. _

_ Oh, Hades, how I love you so. _

His aether reaches out to hers, just to check on her. _ Confusion, worry, _he sends for her, but she shakes her head. If he were to read her aether now, it'd ruin what she'd done. She could hide nothing from him. Calmer now, she gestures towards the box again. "'Tis not a concept, I promise. Please, open it."

Curiosity gets the best of him despite his prodding at her aether and ends up opening the box, slowly and delicately, as if it could turn into dust if he made any brusque movement.

A pair of earrings sit inside, safely pinned on dark blue silk: a golden diamond-shaped base with a single white tear hanging from each single one.

Hades stares at them, but before he can open his mouth to ask, Persephone decides it's now or never.

"You told me once you didn't like rings as a token for the bonded," at that, he whips his head to look at her. With a smile she notices the change to incredulity in his face as the gears begin to turn in his head, putting the pieces together. "They'd get in the way of your work, so you said, and thus I tried to come up with something else."

A whisper of her name escapes him, filled with devotion, but she can't stop, not now.

"I made them off based on the design of the chandelure you commissioned me for your bureau, when we met," she adds, watching him blink. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and counts to three.

She opens them, finding Hades' gaze on her filled with such intensity she wonders how she hasn't combusted on the spot. His breathing is fast and loud to her ears, chest rising fast under his robes and his aether now mirroring hers in a torrent of emotion. She reaches out for him: his aether twists and swirls around hers, taking it all in, gripping and tugging and if it could talk she's sure it'd be _ begging_.

Another deep breath. _ You can do this. _

She grips his aether back, as desperate as his. She must let him know she needs him as much as he needs her. She tugs and pulls in return, fierce and bold and _ insistent_.

"Would you have me be bonded to you, from here until our end?"

Hades blinks once, then twice, absolutely _ dumbfounded_. It takes all of Persephone's might to not run to him and _ shake him_, instead she bites her lip, trying to drown the little voice in her head saying that maybe _ she's imagined things_, _ maybe he doesn't love you like you do, maybe– _

In a flash, just as thunder roars outside, he's in front of her, gloved hands cradling her face as she reaches up to gently take his hands in hers. Her eyes burn, her chest burns, her _ aether burns _ and then–

then he leans down and takes her lips with his, a sob she isn't sure if it's hers or his breaking over the muffled rain as his hands travel to her hair and grip her tighter against his body. 

His aether sings, hers responding in kind, both pulling at each other in a promise beyond time and their existence, _ bonding _ their souls together.

When he parts from her for air, Persephone is sure the tears running down her face aren't only her own, and the smile he gives her is so _ brilliant _ and happy her own heart breaks at the sight.

"You know, Hades," she starts brushing his soft hair between her fingers, trying to hide the mirth in her voice. "I still didn't get your answer."

Hades gives her an incredulous look before she winks at him, getting him to throw his head back as he laughs, joy bursting out of his aether as he pulls her into his chest, getting a surprised squeak out of her before returning his tight embrace in kind.

"You maddening woman… My answer is yes, Persephone. I'd have no other in any life."

He spends the night in her apartment, filling the night with murmured promises and wishes and sharing themselves with each other, all boundaries forgotten, their souls joined...

and when they head out the next day, each one of them wear a matching earring hidden under their hoods.

* * *

It is with a heavy heart, shattered to pieces just like her soul, like his home– that he cradles her body and tucks her matching earring safely into his pocket.

"One day," he promises to the nothingness, his voice empty but his soul screaming for hers to _ come back to me_, "one day I will find you again, and I will give this back to you."

* * *

"That's a beautiful earring."

Solus–, no, Emet-Selch lazily opens his eyes, finding the Hero of the Source gazing down at him with curious eyes (and Zodiark help him, was that_ worry _ etched in them_–) _, who somehow had managed to climb up into the tree he had been napping on as the Night's Blessed celebrated the return of the night, being so bothersome and noisy.

Rude.

He hates those blue eyes. He hates the Canopus hanging on her back, the way she summons little planets and stars around her to both entertain and understand, the way she stares at the night sky above them, the way she twirls and spins, deadly and furious, and smites her enemies down with the force of the stars themselves.

It's too much. He <strike>loves</strike> hates her.

She's just like _ her._

Emet-Selch feels so tired.

"Do you like it?" he asks instead, moving the earring with his gloved hand. It still looks as new as the day it was given to him, its matching pair hidden safely in his pocket, never given to anyone else.

The hero lifts a hesitant hand, as if silently asking him for permission, but even as he gives no answer his traitorous aether beckons her closer to him.

And she gives in, poking his earring. Emet-Selch remains impossibly still as it dangles innocently until she lets out a breath neither of them realized she'd been holding.

"It's really pretty," with a whisper, she adds, "fitting for a Garlean Emperor."

He holds back the urge to sneer. _ Garlean, she says_. What would she know if the beauties of Amaurot, incomplete as she was? As if Garlemald could produce something as beautiful–

"No, I'm wrong–," a pause as she tries to get her words together. His thoughts stop spiraling once more as he hears her shuffle to sit next to him. Strange, not unwelcome, but if only his aether would just _ stop–_, "it's not Garlean, is it? It's from somewhere else… I feel magic in it." 

He holds his breath.

"You're not entirely wrong, hero," Emet-Selch clears his throat, getting a frown out of her, trying not to show she'd caught him with many of his shields down. "It's a token older than your star itself. I even have the other match with me."

She smiles next to him. Why does she smell like vanilla, out of all things? It's distracting him. "Must be really important to you if you carried it with you for this long."

_ Oh, if only you knew. _

"That's a story for another day," his lips curl into a little smirk at the sight of a pout forming in her face; she was clearly curious. Almost adorable. His mouth is running before he can stop it. "But tell you what, hero, if you prove yourself capable," _ if you become whole again_, "I will give the other one to you. Deal?"

The hero blinks at him, confusion and a bit of distrust clear on her face. "But isn't it important to you? Why part with one of them like that?"

Emet-Selch then pulls out the other earring from his pocket, playing with it between his fingers. The light from the torches below reflects on the white tear-shaped crystal, and for a moment, Emet-Selch dares to _ hope_.

"I couldn't think of anyone more worthy of it, _my dear_."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> look i know the earring it's probably part of his garlean uniform but let me have this
> 
> i honestly have no idea how titles work in amaurot so I just grabbed the name of the star i like most and ran with it as pre-convocation title as she works with shiny things and made the damn planetarium. i assume wol has a canon title but until SE feeds me i'm staying on this hill where amaurotine!wol and hades were happy together
> 
> also she did make the concept of a planetarium for amaurot, and now she's an astrologian, it drives poor Emet up the wall :D


End file.
